It’s an awful place to be when Monday rolls around, and all you want to do is keep sleeping. It’s even worse if Monday comes and you’d rather be anywhere but at work. Here are some ideas on how to cope when you hate your job.
Create A Situation Report
Get a hold of the situation that you’re in. Take a moment to understand why you hate your job and how you got here. Here are a few questions that you can answer to help you create a situation report:
- When is the last time you enjoyed your job?
- What has changed over the last 3, 6, 9, and12 months?
- Do you often feel bored at work?
- Are the expectations put upon you realistic?
- Is there anyone at work that you can trust?
- What are your goals for the next 3, 6, 9, and 12 months at work?
- Do you feel appreciated at work, if so, by whom?
- What are your current strengths, and which are you using in your current role?
- What do you most dread about each workday?
Answer these questions as honestly as possible so that you can understand the current situation you’re in. Once you know where you’re at, it will be easier to get the clarity you need on how to address what’s going on.
Create A Gratitude List
Even if you hate your job, it’s likely there is still something that you can be grateful for. Write those things down. You could store the list on your phone or keep it on a piece of paper in your purse. Revisit the list every day to help remind you to focus on what is good right now.
What you put on your list could be very simple so here are a few ideas of what you might be grateful for at work to help get you started:
- Work in an air-conditioned/heated office setting protected from the elements
- Take a lunch break every day
- I can laugh with some of my coworkers
- My commute time is reasonable
- There are clean bathrooms
- I get to work on a unique project of my choice
- The people around me care about me
The things that you’re grateful for at work don’t have to be completely mind-blowing. They simply have to remind you that there is some good in each one of your days. Focus on that good to help get you through your current situation.
Decide How You’ll Feel Before You Get There
There might not be a lot that you can control at your job. If the company culture is one that is bringing you down, it’s unlikely that as an individual, you’re going to be able to change it anytime soon. The one thing that you can control is how you feel. Your attitude and how you respond to everything going on around you is entirely within your control. Focus on that. Decide how you’re going to feel and what your attitude for the day is going to be before you even get to work. Then once you’ve made that decision, stick to it. Don’t let all of the noise or garbage going on around you impact your attitude. I understand this is easier said than done, but it is possible. It does take practice, so each morning, start yourself off with a strong affirmation to help keep you going. A few of my favorites are:
- Like water off a ducks back I’m going to let this go
- My life is mine, and I choose to enjoy it
- This is temporary and will pass
- At the end of this journey, there will be a valuable lesson and a new opportunity for me
- Today is my favorite day, and no one can take that away
- I choose happiness no matter what is happening around me
Choosing to remind yourself of your resilience and your decision to be happy is a crucial part of enjoying each day. Especially on the tough days.
Set Goals
When you hate your job, it can be very easy to go in and just push a button. This creates a vicious cycle where not only do you hate what’s going on around you, but you were also bored. As an ambitious working woman, being bored is not conducive to your happiness. To help you out with this, set some personal goals at work. Yes, you have the goals that have been assigned to you by the organization, so what do you want? What areas of your resume do you want to pump up? Which of your strengths would you like to establish further? What are some areas of personal or career development that you want to work on?
Take time to answer these types of questions and then set some personal goals that you can track. Each day when you come into work, yes, you need to do your job and deliver on what you’re being paid for, but you can also ensure that you are working on something that fulfills you.
Find A Special Project
When you hate your job, likely, the work you’re doing is not exciting. See if you can find a special project that is fulfilling for you. This project could involve one of your employee resource groups or even another department. Offer your skills to help one of those groups outside of your own. Working on a special project could provide the right release and revive you enough so that you stop trying to figure out a way to call in sick every day.
Find Someone To Confide In
We all need to vent once in a while. Find someone that you can confide in and share your frustrations with regularly. The key is to make sure that this person doesn’t take you on a downward spiral but instead helps to bolster you up. Find someone who will let you vent to them, but then he will also motivate you to do the things that you need to do to live the life you love. When you find this person tell them what you expect from them. Let them know that it’s a conscious decision on your part to come to them when you need to vent and ask that they are empathetic but also motivate you to live your life in a way that brings as much joy as possible.
Update Your Environment
Our environments, the physical space that we inhabit, play a massive role in how we feel. When you hate your job, it’s crucial that at the very least, you feel comfortable in the space that you’re in. Do what you can to liven up and refresh your work environment. Maybe a new plant, inspiring picture, or motivating quote is something that you can place on your desk to help you feel better. If you’ve created a vision board, take a picture from that, or put the board itself in a location you can see it regularly so that you have some level of positive inspiration energy around you.
Other great ways to liven up your work environment are to bring in a lamp or a tchotchke you own that makes you smile. Currently, I love my job, yet I still have to liven up my desk. I keep a llama stuffed animal that I got from a trip to Uruguay. I love that thing, it’s soft, and it’s adorable; for some reason, every time I look at it, I laugh. Even though I do genuinely enjoy my job, I have tough days too, and being able to look at that toy and touch its softness is comforting to me. It’s a small thing, but it can make a big difference in how I feel on a bad day. When you hate your job, you’re going to have more bad days than good, so ensuring that your environment is there to support you is key to getting through this tough time.
Pursue A Passion
With so much going on in your life, it can be hard to take on something extra, especially when things aren’t going great. However, one of the best ways to improve the energy around you is to work on something that brings you joy. Take some time to think about what type of a hobby or side hustle you might be able to focus on for the next few months until you figure out what’s next with your job situation. Pursuing a hobby or side hustle will help to invigorate you and let you put that stored up energy toward something useful. Both a hobby and a side hustle can help you to feel accomplished regularly, which is something likely missing from your life when you hate your job.
Determine What’s Next
If you’re in a place where you hate your job, you need to do something about it. It’s highly unlikely that your company is going to take the right steps for you as a woman. Look at the situational report you put together, think through what is causing you to hate your job, and think through what needs to change. If there are things that you can change at your job then create a plan to make that change. If the situation is one that you feel you’re unable to impact, then it could be time to start looking for a new job.
The most crucial part of going from hating your job to loving your job is to make a plan of action for a change. Don’t wait! You deserve to live a wonderful life, and if your current situation isn’t affording you that, then the sooner you take action, the better.
For more tips on how to improve your work environment check out, How To Show Kindness At Work.
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Are you willing to reserve 10 minutes each day for yourself? Get access to the 10 Minutes to Better Days video course at How To Get Unstuck.
